Social listening What is it and what is its importance?

Social profiles and company websites are very important when it comes to generating content, attracting new followers and future customers. Therefore, it is advisable to take care of them and carry out constant monitoring. This is known as "social listening".

The esocial shower is, as its name suggests, the process of listening to the online conversations that users have in relation to the brand, through social networks or websites. This analysis is studied in order to obtain a series of useful knowledge for the improvement of the company.

But social listening goes beyond just tracking mentions of your brand, it involves understanding your customers to find out what motivates them.

In addition, it allows us to know whether the content is suitable for the requirements of the target audience. It gives us insight into how the competition is approaching your brand or whether paid campaigns are having an effect on users. This analysis is carried out by marketing and communication technicians.

Social listening on social networks and websites

• Measure the impact of campaigns, content and conversations.
• Establishes the feeling (positive, negative or neutral) towards the brand.
• Rate user service.
• Determine what people say about you on the Internet.

Planning

Creating an action plan will make it easier for us to listen socially. The purposes would be as follows:

• To assess the online reputation of companies. It analyses the mentions, opinions and sentiment of users in relation to the brand or products/services.
• Measure the impact of campaigns, content and user conversations in relation to the brand, products and services.
• Evaluate user care and support provided.
• Identify and observe influencers (opinion leaders) within the brand.
• Assess the competition and what is being said about them.

Add that, in order to plan well, it is necessary to make a schedule considering how the social networks work and the updating of the contents of the website.

Are all social networks analysed in the same way?

No, each social network must be analysed separately.. The first thing to determine is the target audience of your company. In such a way that you can analyse the conversations between users and all interactions about their likes and dislikes.

Monitoring

Social listening requires the use of certain tools, which can be free or paid, including digital analytics tools. It is important to know that the statistical data provided by social networks are not useful for social listening.

Establishing key words will allow the evaluation to focus on the aspects that really matter to the organisation.

Data analysis and reporting

After the analysis of the data, it will be noted which needs have not been met.

Once the report has been seen, short, medium and long term actions should be established. The results of the reports will then be sent to the relevant areas of the company. Finally, feedback will be sent to customers.

In the event of a negative report, the crisis plan should be activated in order to prevent even bigger problems from occurring that could negatively affect the organisation's reputation.

The importance of social listening is key for any organisation. It should be a fundamental part of every company's digital strategy.It also generates information on trends and opportunities, according to the needs and requirements of users. It helps you make the right business decisions.

In conclusion, theocial listening helps companies' online reputation. So it allows you to keep track of the situation constantly, avoiding losing control of the situation.